U.S. patent number 5,138,654 [Application Number 07/497,022] was granted by the patent office on 1992-08-11 for facsimile apparatus.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Akira Yuki.
United States Patent |
5,138,654 |
Yuki |
August 11, 1992 |
Facsimile apparatus
Abstract
After completion of reception of a facsimile letter in a
facsimile apparatus, a telephone of which the telephone number is
registered in advance at the facsimile apparatus and which is
installed apart from the facsimile apparatus is automatically
called. Then a predetermined voice message is sent to the called
party of the telephone in order to inform reception of the
facsimile letter and the number of the facsimile communications
received.
Inventors: |
Yuki; Akira (Fukuoka,
JP) |
Assignee: |
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.,
Ltd. (Kadoma, JP)
|
Family
ID: |
13880475 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/497,022 |
Filed: |
March 21, 1990 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
Current U.S.
Class: |
379/100.06;
379/100.14; 379/88.23 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N
1/32005 (20130101); H04N 1/32101 (20130101); H04N
1/32122 (20130101); H04N 2201/3205 (20130101); H04N
2201/3216 (20130101); H04N 2201/3218 (20130101); H04N
2201/3219 (20130101); H04N 2201/3261 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04N
1/32 (20060101); H04M 011/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;379/100,142,96,97,98,93 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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|
|
|
|
|
0000855 |
|
Jan 1989 |
|
JP |
|
0117559 |
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May 1989 |
|
JP |
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0309454 |
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Dec 1989 |
|
JP |
|
0320850 |
|
Dec 1989 |
|
JP |
|
Primary Examiner: Dwyer; James L.
Assistant Examiner: Woo; Stella L.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Cushman, Darby & Cushman
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A facsimile apparatus comprising:
image receiving means for receiving an image signal of a facsimile
communication sent from a calling party via a telephone line,
image reproducing means for reproducing a visible image from said
image signal,
a reception detector for detecting reception of said image signal
of said facsimile communication,
a counter for counting a number of occurrences of reception of said
facsimile communication,
telephone number storage means for storing a telephone number of a
telephone of an operator of the facsimile apparatus which is
located apart from said facsimile apparatus,
dialing signal sending means for sending a dialing signal
indicative of said telephone number to a telephone line after
completion of a reception of a facsimile communication,
memory means for memorizing a message to be forwarded to said
operator for informing of a reception of facsimile communication,
and
message sending means for sending said message and a number of
occurrences of reception from said counter to said telephone line
when it becomes an off-hook state.
2. A facsimile apparatus comprising:
image receiving means for receiving an image signal of a facsimile
communication sent from a calling party via a telephone line,
image reproducing means for reproducing a visible image from said
signal,
a reception detector for detecting reception of said image signal
of said facsimile communication,
a counter for counting a number of occurrences of reception of said
facsimile communication,
telephone number storage means for storing a telephone number of a
telephone placed apart from said facsimile apparatus,
message memory means for memorizing a voice message which indicates
reception of a facsimile communication,
dialing signal sending means for sending a dialing signal
corresponding to said telephone number of said telephone to a
telephone line after completion of reception of a facsimile
communication, and
message sending means for sending said voice message and a number
of occurrence of reception from said counter to the telephone line
only after detecting an off-hook state of said telephone line.
3. A facsimile apparatus comprising:
image receiving means for receiving an image signal of a facsimile
communication sent from a calling party via a telephone line,
image reproducing means for reproducing a visible image from said
image signal,
a reception detector for detecting reception of said image signal
of said facsimile communication,
a counter for counting a number of occurrences of reception of said
facsimile communication,
telephone number storage means for storing a telephone number of a
telephone placed apart from said facsimile apparatus,
message memory means for memorizing a message which indicates said
number of receptions of said facsimile communication,
dialing signal sending means for sending a dialing signal
corresponding to said telephone number of said telephone to a
telephone line after completion of reception of a facsimile
communication, and
message sending means for sending said message to the telephone
line only after detecting an off-hook state of said telephone
line.
4. A facsimile apparatus in accordance with any of claims 1, 2 or 3
further comprising:
calling party data storage means for storing data for identifying
said calling party, and
a speech synthesizer for generating a voice message based on said
data for identifying said calling party, said voice message being
sent by said message sending means.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a facsimile
apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a facsimile apparatus is installed at a predetermined
place in an office, thus an operator of the facsimile apparatus
must come to the facsimile apparatus at regular intervals or at
irregular intervals in order to ascertain arrival of a facsimile
letter. If he neglects such ascertainment, he cannot be noticed of
an important facsimile letter, or scores of the facsimile letters
which have arrived before he is aware of it, and further he must
make complicated and troublesome work to assort these facsimile
letters.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile
apparatus having means for informing of reception of a facsimile
letter to a predetermined called party waiting for the reception at
a place which is apart from the location of the facsimile
apparatus.
A facsimile apparatus in accordance with the present invention
comprises:
image receiving mean for receiving an image signal of a facsimile
communication sent from a calling party via a telephone line.
image reproducing means for reproducing a visible image from the
image signal,
a reception detector for detecting reception of the image signal of
the facsimile communication,
telephone number storage means for storing the telephone number of
a telephone of an operator of the facsimile apparatus which is
located apart from the facsimile apparatus,
dialing signal sending means for sending the dialing signal of the
telephone number after completion of a reception of a facsimile
communication,
memory means for memorizing a message to be forwarded to the
operator for informing of a reception of facsimile communication,
and
message sending means for sending the message to the telephone when
it becomes an off-hook state.
While the novel features of the invention are set forth
particularly in the appended claims, the invention, both as to
organization and content, will be better understood and
appreciated, along with other objects and features thereof, from
the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile apparatus of an embodiment
in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of receiving operation in the
embodiment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a main part of a facsimile apparatus
of an embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 1, in sending operation of the facsimile
apparatus, letters and/or picture of a manuscript to be sent is
read by an image reading circuit 1 composed of an automatic
manuscript feeder and a line-type image sensor. An image signal
read by the image reading circuit 1 is memorized in an image data
memory 2 composed of a magnetic disc or RAM, for example. A
send/receive switching circuit 3 for switching operations of
sending or receiving of the image signal is coupled to a telephone
line 6 via a telephone line interface 4 and a telephone line
controller 5 for performing connection or disconnection of the
telephone line. An image data readout circuit 7 reads out picture
data memorized in the image data memory 2 and send to the
send/receive switching circuit 3.
In receiving operation of the facsimile apparatus, an image data
storing circuit 8 controls a received signal, which is inputted
through the telephone line controller, telephone line interface 4
and send/receive switching circuit 3, and applies the received
signal to a reception data memory 9. An image data output circuit
10 comprises data readout circuit for reading out the image data
from the reception data memory 9, a platen (not shown) and a
thermal head, which is disposed to face to the platen, and
reproduces a visible image on a paper on the basis of the picture
data. Telephone number memories 11A and 11B memorize predetermined
telephone numbers. The telephone number memory 11A memorizes
telephone numbers of called parties to which a facsimile
communication has been addressed many times; the telephone number
memory 11B memorizes a telephone number of a telephone for a
facsimile operator, who is apart from the facsimile apparatus, in
order to call the operator when a facsimile communication is
received. These telephone numbers are inputted into the telephone
number memories 11A and 11B with a telephone number input circuit
19 such as a keyboard.
A dialing signal sending circuit 12 generates a dialing signal
corresponding to a telephone number which is memorized in the
telephone number memories 11A and 11B, and send it to the telephone
line 6. A message to be sent to the operator has been memorized
preliminarily in advance in a message memory 13.
Data concerning several calling parties (for example, name and/or
telephone number) which frequently send a facsimile communication
to the facsimile apparatus are stored in advance in a calling party
registration circuit 16. When the registered calling party called,
the data of a calling party accompanied with the facsimile
communication is received by the calling party registration circuit
16, and when the received data coincide with one of the registered
data, the signal based on the data of the calling party is applied
to a speech synthesizer 17. Hence, a voice message for informing of
the name of the calling party is sent to the operator. The voice
message is announced, for example, "the calling party is the ABC
company". A counter 14 counts the number of reception of the
facsimile letter. A control circuit 15 controls the respective
circuits and parts of the facsimile apparatus, and is composed of a
microcomputer, for instance. By means of the control circuit 15,
after finish of reception of a facsimile letter, the telephone line
controller 5 maintains closing status of the telephone line 6, and
the dialing signal sending circuit 12 generates the dialing signal
corresponding to the number of telephone of the operator memorized
in the telephone number memory 11B. Additionally, the message
memorized in the message memory 13 is sent out to the telephone
line 6.
The circuits of image reading circuit 1, image data memory 2, image
data readout circuit 7 and telephone number memories 11A and 11B
are known circuits for use in facsimile transmission to another
facsimile apparatus connected by the telephone lines.
Operation of the above-mentioned embodiment is described
hereafter.
First, reception process of a facsimile communication is elucidated
with reference to the flow chart as shown in FIG. 2. In the event
that the operator wishes to be informed of a reception of a
facsimile communication in the facsimile apparatus by means of a
telephone (Step 1), he registers number of his telephone which is
available for him, into the telephone number memory 11B (Step
2).
When a facsimile letter is received in the facsimile apparatus, a
reception detecting circuit 20 detects it and issues a signal to
the control circuit 15 (Step 3). Subsequently, the telephone line
controller 5 connects the telephone line interface 4 to the
telephone line 6 under control of the control circuit 15 (Step 4).
An image signal from the telephone line 6 is applied to the
send/receive switching circuit 3 via the telephone line interface
4. The image signal is memorized in the reception data memory 9 via
the image data storing circuit 8 (Step 5).
Then, the image data output circuit 10 reads out the image data
from the reception data memory 9 and prints a visible image on a
paper (not shown) under control of the control circuit 15.
A counter 14 counts the number of reception of the facsimile
letter.
After completion of reception of the image signal, the telephone
line 6 is disconnected for a brief period of time by the operation
of the telephone line controller 5, and then is connected again
(Step 8). Subsequently, the dialing signal based on the telephone
number of the operator registered in the telephone number memory
11B is sent out from the dialing signal sending circuit 12 to the
telephone line 6 (Step 9). Then the telephone of the operator is
called.
When the telephone of the operator is made to an off-hook state
(Step 10), the message memorized in the message memory 13 is sent
to the telephone of the operator (Step 11). The message is an
announcement such as "one facsimile communication to you is
received", and the message is followed by the name of the calling
party. Therefore as a summary for instance, "one facsimile
communication to you is received from ABC company". After then, the
telephone line 6 is disconnected (Step 12), and the facsimile
apparatus returns to stand by.
When a successive facsimile communication is received, in a manner
similar to that described hereinabove, the data in the counter 14
is advanced to the numeral value "2", and the operator is called to
be informed of the reception of facsimile communication by such an
announcement of "two facsimile communications are received now".
Such telephone call to the operator is performed at every reception
of a facsimile letter.
The operator which was informed of the reception of the facsimile
communication comes to the facsimile apparatus and takes out the
facsimile communication printed out from the image data output
circuit 10, and then resets the counter 14 with a reset switch 18,
or by an automatic reset switch 18 interlinked to a known printed
communication holder.
According to the present invention, even in case that the operator
does not always stay adjacent to the facsimile apparatus, the
telephone of the operator is called and a predetermined message for
informing of reception of a facsimile letter is sent thereto, at
every reception of a facsimile communication in the facsimile
apparatus, since the number of the telephone adjacent to the
operator is registered in the facsimile apparatus. Hence, the
operator is immediately and automatically noticed of the reception
of the facsimile communication, even at a place apart from the
facsimile apparatus.
Although the invention has been described in its preferred form
with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the
present disclosure of the preferred form has been changed in the
details of construction and the combination and arrangement of
parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the
scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
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